Annie Roy – Tunneling her way in man’s land

She must be the single woman in India in the mechanical world but has shown no woman are lesser than a man. Read out this article to know about Annie Roy

Woman and society always thinks that world was, is and will always be a male-dominated centre. But Annie Sinha Roy has proved that women can be also be the boss to the male-dominated centres. Yes! The lady who has played a major monumental role in the Bengaluru Metro Project is the India’s first and only woman tunnel engineer.

Annie hails from a middle-class family in North Kolkata, eagerly wanted to earn a post-graduation degree after studying Mechanical Engineering from Nagpur University. She got a job to help with her family’s financial crunch which led her to joining Senbo, a contractor company with Delhi Metro in 2007.

The very first day of her job in Delhi she heard: “She must be a visitor.” “There were about 100 men, most of them laborers and a few engineers. They thought I would not last long, there were no toilets, no place to sit and debris all around,” she recalls.

Recalling one of her first experiences as a tunnel engineer, Annie said, “After a couple of hours, I was standing in front of a huge machine that had to break the ground but it was stuck. A German engineer and my boss asked me to get inside it and open a nut. Even before I realized what I was doing, my face was gushed by hydraulic oil. The colleague said my face would glow for the rest of my life. Today tunneling is my life.

She started working with Bangalore (now Bengaluru) Metro rail Corporation (BMRC) in 2015 as assistant manager. She alone steered Godavari tunnel-boring machine that recently carving out the underground track from Sampige Road to Majestic. She called it her tunnel because the moment she hopped on board, the machine got damaged. Since after that, Annie started spending eight hours in the tunnel every day.

Annie further added, “Sometimes when people see me with the helmet and jacket and learn that I work for Namma Metro, they would only ask when the work will get over.”

When asked what message she had for all the women out there, Annie said, “I want women to drive a tunnel boring machine. I want them to work in the tunnel.”